The Unremarkable Times of Lanson Gate, Chapter 4
Half-Blood Hill We ran like our lives depended on it, which they kind of did. When we were at least 4 blocks away, we finally stopped. I looked around and noticed we were in upstate New York. “We’ll never make it too Camp at this rate!” wheezed Jennifer, who stopped Marie from running any further. Chris sat down and held his leg. “The nectar and ambrosia is wearing off. My leg is killing me.” he groaned. Aldrea reached into her pocket and pulled out a pure gold coin.“Stethi, O harma diaboles!!” she said in a weird language. To my surprise, I understood exactly what she said. And if my hearing was correct, unfortunately she had said, “Stop Chariot of Damnation!” That does not sound good at all. She then threw the coin a road, but it vanished before it could hit the street. Immediately, an all gray taxi pulled up at the curb. Written on the side of it in the same language I didn’t know but strangely understood said Gray Sisters. Chris hobbled over and opened up the backseat door. “Quick, get in!” he grunted me and I hurried up and slid into the car. Marie sat down beside me, and Aldrea sat down beside her. Jennifer followed suit. Chris got in last, and quickly closed the door. Good thing he did, because before the door was even closed the cab shot off like a cannon ball. My intestines felt like they had decided to get up and fly, and being in the backseat of a cab meant for two with four other people wasn’t helping. “What is this thing?” I yelled, panicked. The passenger window suddenly slammed back and a old woman with so much gray hair I thought she was wearing a mop leaned her head in. Her hair hid her face from view. “Where too?” she asked. Her voice was slurred, like she had stayed up all night drinking very alcoholic beverages. “Camp Half-Blood on Half-Blood Hill.” Jennifer replied. Ms. Grandma nodded but instead of returning to the front to drive she barked to her left, “You heard the girl, Tempest! Turn left, turn left!” A shrill voice answered, “If you just gave me the eye I would be able to see where I was going, Anger!!” Eye? “You two stop arguing!” said another voice, a mix between the first two. “Concentrate on getting to the destination” “Shut up Wasp!” yelled Anger and Tempest. I looked at Andrea who had taken on a strange green hue. “What in the world is going on?” I asked her. “Who the heck are they?” Andrea gave me one look at me and I could instantly tell she wasn’t in the right shape to answer my question. Chris was in pain. Marie didn’t know anything anyway. Only one left was Jen. I repeated the question. “They’re the three Gray Sisters” she replied. “They each share an eye and a tooth. If you’re ever in a hurry, they’ll get you there quick” “Oh” I said, wondering how more bizarre my day might get. “That’s…interesting” I suddenly felt a movement at my shoulder, and I turned around to see Marie staring back at me. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Um, I’m probably not the best person to ask that question to” I replied weakly. Wow, that was lame. “Just enjoy the ride for now”. She frowned, but stopped asking questions. “We’ve had so many famous people in this cab” laughed Tempest. I guess she was responding to what Jennifer had said earlier. “Remember Houdini?” “And Percy Jackson?” giggled Wasp. “Oh, I remember that day. Him, Annabeth, and Tyson were all in sitting in the backseat. Ah, those were the wonder years,” said Anger in a daydreamy sort of way. This Percy Jackson guy must be a real hotshot. I turned around to look out the window. “So what about you, Lanson Gate?” Tempest suddenly asked me, and I instantly whipped my head back around. “You know my name?” I said curiously. Andy, Chris, and Jen looked up warily, listening in on the conversation. The one called Wasp shook her head up and down furiously. “Anyone who rides in this cab gains great power. But they sacrifice something painful along the way. What will you sacrifice, Mr. Gate?” she asked. Anger smacked her sisters on the head. “There you two go again! You can never let the heroes find anything out on their own”. The other two Gray Sisters began arguing with their sister about heroes not being smart enough to figure things out on their own most of the time anyway. But I barely heard what they said. Everyone who has enough power to change the world or destroy it rides in this cab. These ladies must know something about me, or at least my future. And I wanted to know too. “What did you mean by-” I began, sitting up. But the cab suddenly came to a halt and my face smacked directly into the front seat. “We’re here,” Wasp said, and immediately the car doors opened. Everyone got out, even though I did it grudgingly. We were in the open country, which was hard for me to believe, since I’ve never been in the Kansas part of New York. “There” Andrea pointed at a hill a few yards away. “Camp is just over that hill.” We were about to walk off when Tempest’s voice called out. “Lanson? Come here boy.” My friends looked at me, and I shrugged, then walked over too the driver side of the cab. The window was down and I had to bend down to hear what she was saying. “This camp is not for the weak, Lanson. Reach inside yourself to find your inner strength, as this place will make you choose between two extremely hard decisions. One way or another, they are both heavy sacrifices. And no matter which one you choose, we hope you choose with your heart. Extend your hand.” I did as she told me, and a hand reached out of the window and dropped a silver coin into my palm. The window then shot back up, and the cab sped off at top speed. I coughed as all of the dust the car spread around entered my throat, and I walked back over to my friends. “What was all that about?” Jennifer asked me. “Uh, they just wanted to tell me bye” I lied. “You know, they took a major liking to me. See, they even gave me some weird coin.” I tossed her the coin, hoping she didn’t doubt me. For some strange reason, I felt that the information Tempest had told me was only meant for me. Jennifer caught the coin, and stared at with, lifting her eyebrow. “An actual silver drachma? Do you know how much these are worth?” she told me, and threw it back at me. “I wouldn't show that to anybody if I was you.” She then began leading the way up the hill, to a place that was going to make me sacrifice many things and cause me great pain. My life sucks. 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